[[It's not a maloik sign but a fox sign.]]
[[Not a sign of the horns but a fox sign, you know.]]

[Gyah.]

I pledged to myself by linking my little fingers.
What a sentimetal night!
I'll go, driven by this feeling,
running away from the reality.

So good. So good.
The party under the night sky.
So good. So good.
I'll go brilliant.
That for now, moshing up.
Taking little by little is impossible.

Yeah, yeah.
It's too transcendent. It's perfect.
A gal must have
a dream which is surely
super-chaotic.

So good. So good.
Yeah, yeah.
So good. So good.
Yeah, yeah.
So good. So good.
It's super-chaotic.
Yeah, yeah.
So good. So good.
Yeah, yeah.
So good. So good.
Yeah, yeah.
So good. So good. So good. So good. So good. So good.

ROMAJI LYRIC AND NOTES ARE BELOW.

[i] Gyaru Is Not Girl.

This song & "Doki Doki * Morning" contain several jargons used by "gyaru". "Gyaru" originally means girls, and many Japanese still use it in this meaning, but young Japanese use it only for the girls that prefer the lifestyle symbolized by the street fashion seen in Tokyo (Shibuya, etc.). There is another word "gyaru-o" used for boys. They use it just to classify the girls in several types, and the gyaru are not always in such extreme fashions. Some things (e.g. the word "choo") become so popular among young Japanese that they are no longer clues to classify the girls. If you like to know more about gyaru, please see Wikipedia or elsewhere.

[ii] About the Vega Mix Ver. and the Call & Response in Concerts

The Vega mix ver. is included in the album of Sakura Gakuin (2012) and was performed in the graduation ceremony of Sakura Gakuin on 2012 Mar. 25th. In Vega mix ver., only the latter half of the rap part is different. The rap part lyrics of Vega mix ver. and the translation are at the bottom.

Since the summer of 2012, the call and response have been performed instead of the rap parts. SU-METAL calls "Say ho, ho!" and the audience respond "Ho, ho!". SU-METAL calls "* * *!" (here comes the name of the place, the festival, etc.) and the audience respond it.

IINE! (So Good)

Romaji Lyric

English Translation

Notes

Chi-ku-ta-ku shichau.

Tick tack tick tack my heart beats.

1

Kimochi tomara-nai yo.

I can't stop this feeling running wild.

Chi-ku-ta-ku shichau.

Tick tack tick tack my heart beats.

Kimochi ai sukuriimo.

I can't stop this feeling. I screamo.

2

Sore watashi no oyatsu.

Hey, it's my afternoon snack.

M

Cho cho cho. Furage shinai de yo!

Wait, wait, wait! Don't take it in advance of me!

3,Y

[[???]]

[[???]]

[[Omae no mono wa ore no mono.]]

[[All yours are also mine.]]

4,5

Hitori kiri de sora miageta

I was left alone. I looked up the sky.

senchimetaru naito.

What a sentimetal night!

6,7

Ikoo zukkyuun to

I'll go, driven by this feeling,

8

genjitsu toohikoo.

running away from the reality.

Iine. Iine.

So good. So good.

Yo-zora de pari-nait.

The party under the night sky.

Iine. Iine.

So good. So good.

Kagayaite-'koo.

I'll go brilliant.

9

Torima mosshusshu.

That for now, moshing up.

10,11

Sukoshi-zutsu nante muri.

Taking little by little is impossible.

12

YEAH, YEAH.

Yeah, yeah.

Choozetu sugiru yo. Kanpeki yo.

It's too transcendent. It's perfect.

13

Onnya-no-ko wa

A gal must have

14

yume mo kitto

a dream which is surely

choo kaosu da yo.

super-chaotic.

Atama yurase! Megane hazuse!

Sway your head! Take off your glasses!

[ii],YM

Atama mawase! Megane hazuse!

Swing your head! Take off your glasses!

15,YM

Atama yurase! Megane hazuse!

Sway your head! Take off your glasses!

YM

Gyuugyuu panpan tsume-sugi ryukku wa

What a jammed, bursting, over-packed rucksack!

16,YM

sugu-sama orose!

Take it off right now!

16,YM

[Yo! Yo! Yo! Yo!]

[Yo! Yo! Yo! Yo!]

YM

[Maikurohon chekku. Wan tsuu wan tsuu.]

[Microphone check. One, two, one, two.]

MY

[Aa yuu redii tuu mosshu?]

[Are you ready to mosh?]

YM

[Aa yuu redii tuu mosshu?]

[Are you ready to mosh?]

S

PUT YOUR KITSUNE UP!

Put your fox sign up!

S

[Kitsune da o.]

[It's a fox sign, you know?]

17,YM

[[Meroikku ja nai. Kitsune san.]]

[[It's not a maloik sign but a fox sign.]]

18

[[Meroikku ja nai. Kitsune da o.]]

[[Not a sign of the horns but a fox sign, you know.]]

[Gyaa.]

[Gyah.]

(s)

Hitori kiri de yubi-kiri shita

I pledged to myself by linking my little fingers.

19

senchimetaru naito.

What a sentimetal night!

6,7

Ikoo zukkyuun to

I'll go, driven by this feeling,

genjitsu toohikoo.

running away from the reality.

Iine. Iine.

So good. So good.

Yo-zora de pari-nait.

The party under the night sky.

Iine. Iine.

So good. So good.

Kagayaite-'koo.

I'll go brilliant.

Torima mosshusshu.

That for now, moshing up.

Sukoshi-zutsu nante muri.

Taking little by little is impossible.

YEAH, YEAH.

Yeah, yeah.

Choozetu sugiru yo. Kanpeki yo.

It's too transcendent. It's perfect.

Onnya-no-ko wa

A gal must have

yume mo kitto

a dream which is surely

choo kaosu da yo.

super-chaotic.

{

20

Iine. Iine.

So good. So good.

YM

YEAH, YEAH.

Yeah, yeah.

S

Iine. Iine.

So good. So good.

YM

YEAH, YEAH.

Yeah, yeah.

S

Iine. Iine.

So good. So good.

YM

Choo kaosu sa.

It's super-chaotic.

S

YEAH, YEAH.

Yeah, yeah.

S

Iine. Iine.

So good. So good.

YM

YEAH, YEAH.

Yeah, yeah.

S

Iine. Iine.

So good. So good.

YM

YEAH, YEAH.

Yeah, yeah.

S

Iine. Iine. Iine. Iine. Iine. Iine.

So good. So good. So good. So good. So good. So good.

YM

}

Notes

The lines marked with "M" are sung by MOAMETAL, with "Y" by YUIMETAL, with "MY" by both, the lines with "S" & the enclosed phrase [---] marked with "(s)" by SU-METAL (added on 2017 Mar. 17).

"Shichau" (= shite + shimau) means like "to do (something) without intention". What does tick-tack without one's intention is one's heart.

Perhaps it means like "I feel like screaming like screamo bands' vocalists". Today I Learned there is a music genre called "screamo" derived from emo (= emotional hardcore punk?).

"Furage" (= flying get) is young Japanese's jargon. It means to buy such items as the latest Harry Potter novel before the on-sale day. It may be possible if you are shopkeeper's acquaintance.

In the past, kind people said like "Think all mine are (also) yours, and use them freely". Now is said "All yours are (also) mine (and all mine are (only) mine)".

"Omae"(= you) and "ore" (= I) are manly and vulgar words.

"Sentimetal" is a word play of "sentimental" & "metal". I am sorry I have never noticed such a word play. (Appended on 2015 Sep. 27, thanks to brunofoc san on 2015 Sep. 27 & Duane Metal san).

The original line has none for exclamation, and it may be more natural to think the preceding line is attributive (i.e. The sentimetal night when I alone ...), but it probably makes little difference.

"Zukkyuun" is strong "(mune-)kyun". It probably represents the state of one's heart shot with the arrow of love, or sadness, etc. "Zukkyuun-to", for me, sounds like "(doing something) in the state of zukkyuun".

"Torima" is the abbreviation of "toriae-zu maa" used by gyaru. It means like "temporarily for now".

"Mosshusshu" = moshing + "sshu". Moshing is the state of the crowd pushing hard each other in the heavy metal live, etc. Adding "sshu" perhaps suggests something like "with a light feeling".

Literally "Little by little is impossible." The are no clues to "Who?" "What?" "How?".

"超絶" (chôzetsu) & "超越" (chôetsu) were introduced into Japanese as equivalents of "transcendent", which means being beyond the normal limits. In this song, it is not specified what limit it exceeds. That is, it is transcendent in some way.
The form "transcendental" seems to be used only for philosophical meaning (except Liszt's extremely difficult "Transcendental Etudes", and some definitions in Mathematics), so I changed the translation from "transcendental" to "transcendent" on 2016 Jun. 18th (thanks to Timothy Makin san on 2016 June 16th).

"Onnya-no-ko" is a playful form of "onna-no-ko" (= girl). This "gal" is probably not "gyaru". See [i].

The phrase backing the rap part and after the rap part resembles the Japanese children's song named "Kogane-mushi" (Gold Beetle).

Among Japanese heavy metal fans, the sign of the horns is called "maloik sign". SU-METAL mistook the maloik sign for a fox face at the first sight. That was the moment the fox sign came out.

"Yubi-kiri" is an act of pledging by linking one's little finger with other's little finger.

The official lyric lacks this section (added on 2017 Mar. 17).

The rap part of Vega Mix Ver.

Romaji Lyrics

English Translation

Notes

[Yo! Yo! Yo! Yo!]

[Yo! Yo! Yo! Yo!]

YM

[Maikurohon chekku wan tsuu wan tsuu]

[Microphone check. One, two, one, two.]

MY

[Bebimeta in da hausu.]

[BABYMETAL in the house.]

YM

[Cho matte!] [Cho matte!]

[Wait a moment!] [Wait a moment!]

Y/M

[Are? Kore metaru ja naku-nai?]

[Why? This is not the Metal, is it?]

21,Y

Metaru ja naku-ne?

It's not the Metal, is it?

21,M

Soo DEATH ne.

No, it isn't.

22,YM

[[Meroikku ja nai. Kitsune san.]]

[[It's not a maloik sign but a fox sign.]]

[[Meroikku ja nai. Kitsune da o.]]

[[Not a sign of the horns but a fox sign, you know.]]

Notes

Ending with "-nai?" (contracted "-ne?") is a form of tag question ("---, isn't it?"). If the main part is negative, it becomes a double negation form.

In most cases, Japanese "hai", "soo", etc. (= yes) are to agree with the questioner, and Japanese "iie", "chigau", etc. (= no) are to disagree with the questioner. In this case, the questioner thinks it's not the Metal, and the answerer agrees with her.
"DEATH" is a playful notation of "desu" (= to be) (thanks to Anonymous san on 2015 Jul. 14).

Thank you for info. But, as shown above, "Metaru ja naku-ne?" & "Soo desu ne" are the lyrics of the rap part of Vega Mix Ver.I have seen the video of the live performance on 2012 Apr. 6th at Tower Records Shibuya somewhere in the internet. MOAMETAL's voice in that part was recorded in it. It is difficult to tell what she said, but probably it was different from what you tell.

thank you for your work .. just one note, as Duane Metal explains in a video, the word センチメタル (i checked it on the cd booklet) should be translated "sentimetal", a word play of "sentimental" and "metal"

Thank you for suggestion, but, as said in note #13, "超絶" (chôzetsu) is usually used for the translation of "Études d'exécution transcendante" of Franz Liszt, etc. and rarely used in daily life except somewhat joking expressions like this lyric.

I changed "transcendental" to "transcendent" in order not to mislead the readers.

"Transcendent" is the present participle of the Latin verb "transcendere" which means to go up (= scendere) to the other side (= trans). In other words, it means to go or being beyond the normal limits. It means "beyond the human experience" in Kant's philosophy, "beyond the human technique" in Liszt's etudes, "beyond the algebraic numbers" in mathematics, and so on.

The Japanese scholars in the late nineteenth century found the phrases "超絶" (chôzetsu) & "超越" (chôetsu) in Chinese classics and introduced them into Japanese as equivalents of "transcendere". Thanks to kanji, Japanese young people who know these kanji can (roughly) understand the meaning of "超絶" or "transcendent" without learning the precise definition.

In this song, it is not specified what limit it exceeds, so all I can say is "it is beyond the normal limits in some way", that is, "it is transcendent in some way".

Of course there are many other words that would work. I would try not to get hung up on the first word you find. Shop around. There are many-many ways of expressing the same concept in English without sacrificing meaning. In fact, the better it sounds the clearer the meaning.

I wonder whether or not the fellows of the British Academy would approve "'transcendental' isn't naturally a good thing".

Even if most native English speakers know nothing about "transcendental" except some kind of meditation, music, etc, they would think the mathematical concept of "transcendental" is rather different from that kind of things. I would like them to think so about the songs of foreign cultures, too.

Probably the lyric writer is a middle-aged man, but he may have heard a teenage girl actually said "chôzetsu sugiru". She may have just meant "it's too extraordinary". She may have referred to some philosophically transcendental thing because she may have been able to think somewhat philosophically without learning philosophy (as Socrates said).

I beg your pardon, but I'm afraid there is a possibility that your suggestions may be based on what you think teenage girls should be and (Japanese) teenage girls may be beyond your imagination.

I know you think I made my suggestions out of ignorance, but maybe it's wiser to assume that I made my suggestion out of knowledge.

I don't think you would be insulted if I said I know my native tongue better then you. I wouldn't be insulted if the roles were flipped.

Now, I can't translate Japanese into English. But I can tell if a translation doesn't work. I can just hear it. Something's wrong.

I'm earnestly trying to help you.

You should be proud of your work here. But you shouldn't let pride blind you from seeing good advice.

Now, I've gone and looked up these words.

If your going to use "transcendental" to mean "extraordinary" then you should change it too "extraordinary."

If you want "transcendental" to be ambiguous. Then you can't use "too".

I don't think you want it to mean "excessively philosophical", because that would indicate a bad thing.

Now, if you want to have your cake and eat it too. If you want it to mean both "extraordinary" and "philosophical" the word I would use is "sublime".

How much time did you actually spent considering "sublime"? Is "sublime" a word you're particularly familiar with? It's not a very common word. "sublime" is a word that is often use to describe music. You can even find specific examples of the music of Franz Liszt and his contemporaries being described as "sublime".

I would personally be impressed to hear any teenage girl use the word "sublime".

"Chôzetsu" means only "beyond the normal limits" and is neutral as to value judgement, but I think "sublime" is essentially value judgement, so it is difficult for me to adopt it.

I am sorry. I was wrong to write "she may have just meant". I should have written "there is a possibility that we can think what she calls transcendent to be what we call extraordinary if we have found enough evidence to think so".

The meaning of "chôzetsu sugiru" is not ambiguous. It clearly means that something is too far beyond the normal limits to describe.

Imagine that a great Zen master (or philosopher) answers "it's too transcendent" to a question of his disciples. Even if it doesn't make sense to you, I don't think you would suggest "sublime" to him.

Imagine that a Japanese teenage girl happens to come to a mental state that a great Zen master has finally come to after many years of discipline. This is possible to a certain degree because a teenage girl's mind is "super-chaotic" and she can think like a great Zen master for only a moment.

The word has the face value when it is said by great Zen masters or something. We may need to discount the word when it is said by teenage girls, but we should not actually discount it unless we have found enough evidence to do so.

It seems that you don't know Japanese language & things well. Then, why can you know "sublime" is a better alternative? If my poor translation let you understand what should be said, there is no need to revise the translation because that is all I want and I don't want more. Otherwise, I need to let you understand what the original lyrics really say, and it seems to take very long time because my explanation so far seems to have achieved little progress for that purpose.

Does he mean: "It's beyond the normal limits to a higher degree than is desirable"

Or does he mean: "It's extremely beyond the normal limits"

I don't think he means the first one, but that is literally what he said.

The use of "too" to mean "very or extremely" is idiomatic. Sentences that use "too" in this manner can always be expanded to a sentence that uses "too" to mean "to a higher degree than is desirable"

"She's too cute"Could mean that she is making the other girls look bad. It all depends on how and when it is said.To avoid this confusion you would say:"She's too cute for words."

And that literally means: "She is cute to a higher degree than is desirable to express using words"

Phew! That's a doozy of a sentence!

This doesn't work with every word.

Your package can arrive extremely late, seconds before you go on a trip. Or your package can arrive too late, after you've already left for your trip. A box can be extremely heavy, you are having trouble carrying it. Or a box can be too heavy, you can't even lift it up. You can eat an extreme amount of food, like people often do during Thanksgiving. Or you can eat too much, and have to throw up.

Transcendental is a neutral thing, so there is no reason to assume the "too" means "extremely."

It's only in hindsight that you come to the conclusion that it might mean "extremely."

"& things well" seem to be meant as an insult. I certainly don't know Japanese, but to assume that I'm otherwise ignorant is a grave underestimate of my person. You don't know me.

Now, I can't MAKE you believe anything, but if there is one thing I would ask that you believe of me, it's that I would never underestimate these girls. I have seen every BABYMETAL concert it is legal for me to purchase. I've seen the sweat rolling off of SU-METAL brow. I've seen MOEMETAL wince in pain as she continues to dance. I've seen YUIMETAL get back up after falling off stage. You might think I'm dumb or ignorant, but don't think I have anything other then the utmost respect for BABYMETAL.

Most Japanese people think most qualities are relative, relative to something. For example, if I suffer from severe mental disorder, some medicines are good to my mind while it is bad to my body. And I think there are many other people who think likewise.

If I explain using "desirable", the Zen master meant "It's beyond the normal limits to a higher degree than is desirable for answering". Other less transcendent things may be desirable for teaching.

Likewise, the teenage girl meant "It's beyond the normal limits to a higher degree than is desirable for expressing". Other less transcendent things may be desirable for one line of a cool J-POP song.

Both can be expressed as "desirable for the situation determined by the context", and I guess many people would think "desirable" means something like this.

In addition, most Japanese people often don't say what they think the expected listeners can expect easily.

For example, if someone says "kawai sugiru" (meaning something like "she's too cute") without context, most Japanese listeners would not feel it's ambiguous but take it as something like "she is cute to a higher degree than is desirable for one's peace of mind". What is unspecified is only what he expects to happen after he loses his peace of mind (sleepless nights, etc). If the speaker is female, there is a little ambiguity: she feels jealous, or she becomes a lesbian, or ...

You are right. I don't know Japanese language, Japanese history, or Japanese culture. Although I do find it fascinating! I'm currently working on learning Hiragana, but I certainly don't have any degree of mastery yet.

Specifically I don't know what "Choozetu sugiru yo" means.I don't know what "It's too transcendental." means to a Japanese person.

I do know what "It's too transcendental." means to an English speaking person.

I'm familiar with each word. Specifically I'm familiar with how each of these words is used, when it's used, and how it's interpreted by and English speaker.

this is about the 'sentimetal' night (btw thanks brunofoc & Duane Metal too for the lovely and interesting correction!). I really enjoy his wordplay, how come sometimes the Japanese find wordplays in English before natural English speakers do? Like, er, ahem, baby+metal instead of 'heavy metal' :D (although in this case V and B are clearly different for an English speaker so it wasn't that easy). Or "Lazy crazy" in Mr. Kite's song, etc. But I digress. Anyway, about 'sentimetal', I thought it was an idea of the often playful BM songwriters, but just the other day I found there used to be a song with that title, "Sentimetal", by ANIMETAL in the 90's. And previously a 1984 hit (by a female duo, I forgot the name) about a "sentimetal boy" (in this case it seems the boy was somehow robotic, hence the 'metal' part). I wonder if the BM lyric (the sentimetal line) could be sort of a tribute to Animetal?

Thank you for comment. I've found "Senti Metal Boy" was sung by "キララとウララ" (Kilala & Ulala) in 1984. I've found not a song but the subtitle of Animetal's fifth album is "Sentimetal". The lyric writer may have known these, but I think it's not a kind of tribute because they seem not so popular and Japanese metalheads would easily find that wordplay.

By the way, I guess the reason why wordplays are popular in Japan is like this: The Japanese language seems to have less vowels & consonants and more homonyms, Japanese people seem to pay more attention to what is likely to be said than to what is actually said, and those who have a wrong context in mind very easily misheard the word.

Yes, that was the duo. About Anymetal, I don't know, I found in wikipedia about 'Sentimetal' as a single, then I found a yout tube video with a 8min long track supposed to be called that way. I didn't like it very much and lost my patience, sorry. So I won't be "sentimetal" about BM not doing a tribute to this band ;)

About wordplays in Japan, I have a slight idea of that (the desu/death joke may have played a part in that, hehehe), the other day I was watching a Tora-san movie and it was incredible the jokes Tora made just based on kanji lectures of a name (not that I understood half of it but it was hilarious anyway) and of course I find it very funny, since I'm myself very fond of playing with words in my own language. Maybe I'll be reborn in Japan some time. Well, anyway, more seriously, I was thinking about why the native English had to wait for the Japanese to discover the 'sentimetal' wordplay. In fact, 'sentimental' is not a word that comes from English, but from Latin, so the English share it with French, Spanish, Italian and plenty other languages. I'm thinking the reason why we Westerns, the original users of the word, have difficulty for generating that particular wordplay, possibly the reason is because there seems to be a natural contradiction in it that makes it difficult to think of such wordplay: being sentimental is having certain deep feelings (and let them take over your soul & actions), it's a spiritual thing, which is opposite to things like metal, stones, pure materiality without life. Normally wordplays affect things that have something in common, maybe contrary things but in certain context, not so contrary as heart and stone for instance. I guess that happens also in Japanese for Jap. native speakers. The thing may be easier if you see and treat foreign words as mere sounds. I'm not sure if I'm clear enough with what I want to say. Anyway, just sharing my thoughts...